dietmanim



Nov. 8, `1932.

P. W. DIETMANN MATCH BOX I'NVERTING MEANS Filed Sept. 22. 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 8, 1932.

P. W. DIETMANN MATCH BOX INVERTING MEANS Filed Sept. 22. 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Uff lNov. 8, 1932. P. w. DIETMANN MATCH BOX INVERTING MEANS Filed Sept. 22. 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Nov. 8, 1932 Unirse .STATES PATET serien v' PAUL WILHELM DIETMANN, OL JONKOPING-,SWEDEN MATCH Box rNvnwrrNG MEANS Application le September 22, 1930, Serial No. 483,739, and in vSweden August 12, 1930.

In the manufacture of match boxes of the type which comprises a shell and a drawer to be pushed into said shell both the drawers and the shells must be turned to a pre'deter* mined position before the drawers are inserted into the shells and before the shells are` labelled. The operation to edect this Varranging of the boxes has hitherto usually been performed manually and due to this fact, it has been a rather expensive work which suifers from other drawbacks too. Mechanical means are already known to turn the drawers into correct position and put them in order, yet, however, no suitable 1.5 means are known to bringthe shells into the position desired. Y

The present invention has for its object to `provide efficient means for turning the shells to the position desired. As well- V lnown, the shells are providedwith an inner lap -at that side where the material ofthe box is jointed, and the` invention is based on this circumstance, inasmuch as according to the invention'a feelingmember is provided 25 which maybe introduced into .the boxes as the latter are deliveredffrom, say, 'a drying plant or a'store, and some of which have their laps directed to one side and the remaining to the opposite side. Said feeling member is arranged to engage or not to engage a portion of the lap which is unsymmetrical with respect to the middle plane of the -box which is parallel to the flat sides ofthe box and accordingly control a device for turning one group of boxes insuch a way that all of the said last-mentioned'case said end portion will also assist due to its flexibilityV in reliably maintaining the drawer within the shell. 'it is to be noted, however, that the lap may to this end be rendered unsymmetrical also in V the turning device proper, said device being ,position of the Abox.

in such case, preferably, provided with means Y to bend the lap inwards, before the feeling member performs its operation. Said means maypfor'instance, comprise wedges or the like which may be inserted between the side wall of the box and the lap or, better, it may comprise two clamping jaws movable 'relatively to the box which are adapted to exert a pressure upon the longitudinal sides'of the box, preferably, at one end of the boxzonly by means of suitable pressure surfaces.

The feeling member which may be introducedinto the box may be positively controlledl and adapted due to its engagement with the lap to move the box in a different kdirection from that in which boxes not operated by the feeling member are displaced. The feeling member may, however, also be adapted to operate the turning device due to its engagement with the unsymmetrical por-: `tion ofthe lap, forinstance, by being stopped iby the lap and caused to control the turning device by its movement in dependence of the VThe above stated invention will appear from` the detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention in which the lap is bent vinwards by means of clamping jaws movable in the longitudinal direction of the box and in which the movement of the feeling member into the box will be stopped due to the engagement with the lap. p

In the drawings, Fig. l is a side elevation, Fig@ a section on 'the line 2-2 in Fig. l, and Fig. 3 atop plane view of the mechanism, whereas Figs. 4 and 5 are horizontal and vertical detailed sections, respectively, of the mechaand other featuresof the:

nism, showing the clamping jaws andthe feeling member in engagement fwith the box.

lhe shells which may come, for instance, from a drying plan-hare supplied to the turning device on a continuously moving belt conveyor situated between two lateral guiding walls la and 1b, Figs. 2 and 3, the boxes having first been arranged mechanically so that their longer dimension will lie in the longitudinal direction of thebelt, whereas the lateral flap of each box may turn either upwards or downwards. Extending transversely over the belt is a bar 2, Figs. 1 and 3, in such a position that it may stop the continued movement of the boxes with the belt conveyor. The belt is laid around two belt pulj leys one of which only is shown in the drawings, Vat 3. Said belt pulley is carried by a shaft 6 supported by two bearings 4, 4 rest-l ing on the base plate 5. Provided immediately in front ofthe bar 2, as reckoned in the direction of movement ofthe belt, is a carrier plate 7 which reciprocates in the transversal direction of the belt and is adapted to transmit the boxes, one after the other, from the belt 1 to a ltable 8 situated on one side of the belt and at the same level as the belt. Said plate 7 is attached to a reciprocating bar 9 to which there iis also imparted an up and down movement by a mechanism to be hereinafter described. Carried by a continuously rotating shaft 13 mounted in lbearingfrf-ime 10, 11, 12 standing on the base plate 7.

-end of the box.

shaft 13 is a drum 23.v

`plate 5 is a cam disk 14 engaged'by a cam follower 15 carried by one arm 16 of a twoarmed lever 16, 16A rotatably mounted on a 'shaft 17. Said shaft 17 which is parallel to vthe main-shaft 13 is also mounted in the bearing frames 10 and 11. The lever arm io carries at its free end a roller 18 which is thus due tothe rotation of shaft 13 and cam disk 14 to move up and down, thereby in turn alternately lifting and lowering the bar 9 resting thereon together with the carrier The double movement of said bar should be so adjustedtliat the carrier plate 7 after having advanced a box from the belt 1 will be lifted and restored above a box, which in the -meantime has been brought into-en` gagement with the bar 2, and then again lowered. A plate-spring 19 is provided which operates to hold the shells pressed fagainst the table 8 while the shells are moved by the carrier plate 7.

In register with the position to which the boxes arc moved on the table 8 tworods 20, 20 extending in the longitudinal direction of the boxes are slidably mounted in guide-ways 21, 21. Said rods which are connected together by means of a plate 22 are provided at their ends facing the box position with :oppositely directed, substantially vertical guiding and pressure surfaces a, Figs. 4 and said lateral lap ZJ will be bent inwards at one For the reciprocation of these rods 20, 20 which are thus acting` as clamping jaws the following control mechanism is provided. Rigidly secured to the previously-mentioned Vcontinuously rotating` Formed in said drum is a cam slot 24 engaged by a cam follower 26 mounted at one end of a two-armed lever so as to swing said lever to and fro. The

lever 25 is pivoted to an arm 27 projecting from the bearing frame 12. r1`he upper portion of the lever 25 is fork-shaped and the ends 28 of the fork which are formed withvunder surface with a projection 31 depending into the space between the clamping jaws f which is rigidly connected to a rod 32 parallel to the direction of movement of the feel-V ing member and acted on in the direction towards the box by a spiral spring 33 surrounding the rod 32 and bearing against the bearing frame 12. The rod 32 which is rig# idly attachedtothe'feeling member is guided at both ends in the bearing frames 11 and 12. Q The movement of the feeling memberl 30 and thus also of the rod 32 in the direction away from the box is effected by means of a cam 34 formed on the drum 23 `and engaged `by a roller 35 carried at one end of a two' armed lever 36 pivoted to the bearing frame 11 and acted on by a suction spring 36 inserted between said lever 36 and the bearing frame 12 to maintain the roller 35 in engagement with said cam. The upper fork-shaped `end of lever 36 surrounds the rod 32 and engages the projection 31. 1

The shaft 17 above referred to is positively 'controlled from the continuously rotating main shaft 13 by means of a Geneva stop 37,'` i

438 which rotates shaft 17 one quarter of a revolution for each complete revolution of the main shaft. Secured to shaft 17 is a disk V39 carrying four axially adjustable pins 40 'arranged in a circle concentric to shaft 17 in c,

such a way that always one pin will be in register with the rod32 when the shaft 17 is at rest. A stationary cam disk 41 coaxial with respect to disk 39 is provided which operates to restore those pins 40 into the disk e9;

which have been partially pushed out of the disk 39 due to the displacement of rod 32 to the left. 5, between which during the advance of the rods the sides of box A and thus also the above Secured to thebar 9 which supports the carrier plate 7 is also another carrier plate 42 which is adapted to remove the boxes from their position in front of the clamping jaws and the feeling member and push them into a cylindrical hollow member 43 serving as a turning device which is carried by a shaft 45 rotatably mounted in two bearings 44, 44. Said hollow member carries in turn a toothed wheel 46 coaxial thereto which meshes in a toothed segment 49 secured to' a lever 48 rotatably mounted on a shaft 47. Secured to Lio saidl shaft 47 is an arm 50 carrying at its free end astop screw 51 which is normally engaged by the lever 48 under the action of a traction spring 52 secured to the lever 48.

` thus also to the arm 50. To this end said cam disk is engaged by a cam follower 54 pivoted to the end of a lever 54 and is held in said engagement due to the action of a traction spring 55 attached to the lever 54. Secured to the lever 48 carrying the toothed segment 49 is a tongue 56 which is so arranged that a pin 4() which has been removed from its position in register with the rod 32 rigidly secured to the feeling member 30 due to a rotation of the disk 39 a quarter of a revolution and which pin has been partially pushed out of said disk under the influence of the rod 32 will at the end of said rotation project into the path of movement of saidtongue 56 in the turning of the lever 48 to the right in Fig. 2 under the influence of the spring 52.V

The operation is as follows:

The conveyor belt 1 carries the shells while lying on either of their flat surfaces and with either of their end surfaces first, and due to Vthis movement the foremost shell will, as already stated, coine into ycontact with the bar 2. This shell will be moved to the side by the carrier plate 7 to a position in front of the clamping jaws and the feeling member and during said movement it is pressed against the tabley 8 Vdue to the actionof the spring 19 which maintains the shell in its advanced position, while-the carrier plate 7 is `lifted and restored Vabove the next shell which will in its turn be brought to engagement with the bar 2, as soon as the preceding shell has left the belt. The carrier plate 7 is then lowered outside of said shell. Aft-er a shell has been thus brought to a position in front of the clamping jaws, the latter will be displaced due to the actionof the cam drum 23 upon the lever 25 in the direction towards the shell,

which is now prevented by the bar 2 from moving in its longitudinal direction. In this movement of the clampino' jaws the guiding and pressure surfaces provided at the ends of the aws will adjust the position of the shell soras to bring it in register with the feeling Vmember and, in the continued movement of the jaws, said surfaces will finally bend'the sides of the shell inwards soI as to bring the lap b to the position shown in Figs.y 4 and 5. The clam m0' aws are maintained in this l s n o o u position while the feeling member 30 is ad- Avanced under the action of therspring 33 according as the lever` 36 controlled by the cam drum 23 allows. Assuming the lap` of the shell be directed downwards it will be engaged by the feeling member 30 thereby stopping the movement of the latter into the shell, the rod 32 being likewise stopped before it has had opportunity to operate the pin 40 lsituated in register with it. The continued movement of the drum 23 will move said lever to the right, causing it due to its engagement with the projection 3l to restore the feeling member 30 to normalposition. Thereafter# `also the clampingk jaws 20, 20 are restored so as to release the shell. At the same time that the carrier plate 7 is caused due to the movement of the bar 9 to feed another shell from the belt 1 to the position in front of the jaws the preceding shell will be pushed intoV the hollow member 43 serving as turning device. In the meantime, the shaft 17 is rotated one quarter of a revolution so that theV pin 40 i which was previously in register with the rod! 32 will now be in a' position in close proximity to the path of the tongue 56. As said pin,

however, has not been operated by the-rod 32, because the feelingV member was stopped byI i the lap, its end does not proj ect into lthe path of the tongue 56 thus allowing the lever 48 which carries the toothed segment .49 to swing freely to the right, as the lever 50 with the stop screw l'moves to the right. In the,' .movement of the lever 48 to the right independent of the pin 40the hollow member 43 is caused due to the engagement of -the toothed segment 49 in the toothed wheel 46to rotate half a revolution, thereby turning thef shell contained therein so that its lap will face to the side opposite to that to which it was directed before .the turning tookV place, The toothed wheel 46 is so connected with the hollow member 43 that rotation can be transmitv.1 i ted thereto in one direction only so that, Vin

the restoration of the toothed segments 48 under the'influence of lever 54, the hollow member 43 willv remain in the position to which it was moved in the preceding opera-iV tion.` At the nextv feeding motion of the carrier plate 42 the shell will be pushed out of the hollow member 43 under the influence of that shell whichisnow in order to be pushed into thesaid member, the said first-mentioned' shell being received by two projections 57 of the table 8 which also extend below the hollow member 43 to prevent the shell from falling out during the rotation (see Figs. -3

and 5). j

In order to prevent the shell during the turning operation from striking that shell which is atthis time resting on the projections 57 adjacent to the hollow `member 43 eccentric cams 58, see Fig. 5, areprovided on the hollowmember, said cams operating in the rotation of said member to displace the row of shells lying on the projections a distance corresponding to the height of the cams. The shells, when delivered from said projections, are supplied to a continuously moving conveyor belt which is, however,- not shown in the drawings. j

Assuming the shell which is situated in register with the clamping jaws and the feeling -meniber has itsy lap directedfupwards, then said lap will not be engaged by the feeling l member in the forward movement thereof, the feeling'member being thus allowed to continue its movement into the shell, until the projection 31 will come intoengagement with `the upper end of lever 36.v Due thereto, the pin 4G which is at this time situated in regis'- ter with the rod 32 will be operated by said rod and partially removed from the disk 39 so that it will thereafter project into the path lof `the tongue 56. As the lever 48 is `released from the arm 50 and its stop screw 51 shall turn to the right and under the iniiuence of fthe spring55, then the tongue 56 will as a result engage saidvpin 46 which will thereby lprevent the continued movement of the lever. Any rotation of the hollow member 43 will thus not take place in this case, thus allowing the said shell to pass through the hollow member withoutv being turned and will reach the projections 57 in unchangedv position.

It is thus seen that, in this embodiment of 'the invention, those shells which have their laps directed downwards will be turned, Vwhereas `the remaining shells will pass the .turning device without being turned, the result being that all shells which are delivered from the device to be further conveyed, as, v

for instance, to a labelling machine will have their laps directed upwards. It is to be noted, however, that the device 'may also be so designed as to turn those shells only which have their laps directed upwards.-

According to the embodiment shown the feeling member is arranged so as to release lthe turning device when stopped by the lap. AIrrespective of the design of the releasing mechanism the feeling member may, on the contrary, be adapted to turn those shells the laps of which have not been engaged by the feeling member.

While I' have hereinbefore described how to feed shells in a string one behind the other through the turning device it is to be noted that oneand the same machine may be provided with a plurality of'feeling members and .turning devices which are driven from a common shaft, thereby several rows of shells to be turned to correct position simultaneously.

What I claim is 1. In a device for arranging match box shells which are provided with an inner lap at that side where the material of the shell -is jointed and which are supplied to said device in such a way that some shells will have .their laps directed to one side and the other shells to the'opposite side, the combination of a feeling member, means for yieldingly intro- -ducing said feeling member into the shells adjacent one of their flatsides so as to be stopped or not to be stopped according to the direction of the laps of the shells by a part of the vlap 'which is unsymmetrical with reof a feeling the shells adjacent one of spect to the middleplane of the shell that is parallel to the fiat sides thereof, a turning device for receiving one shell at a time and capable of turning it half a revolution, means to successively move the shells to and from said turning device, the feeling member, due to its movement in dependence of the position of the shells, for operating said turning device. 2. In the combination set forth in claim 1, means to bend the laps inwardly before the feeling member is introduced into the shell. 3. In the combination set forth in claim 1, wedge-shaped members to bend the lap inwardly, bef-orethe feelingmember is introduced into the shell. j

il. In the combination set forth in claim 1, a pair of clamping jaws movable relatively to the shell and provided with surfaces adapt- -ed to exert a pressure upon the longitudinal sides of the shells to bend the laps thereof inwardly, beforevthefeeling member 'per- -formsits operation.

5. In the combination set forth in claim l, a pair of clamping jaws movable rectilinearly in the longitudinal direction of the? shell to bend the side walls of the shell and the respective lap inwardly. Y D I 6. In a device for arranging match box shells which are provided with an Vinner lap at that side where the material of the shell is jointed and which are supplied to said device in such a way that some shells will have their laps directed to one side and the other shells to the opposite side, the Ycombination member, means for yieldingly introducing the feeling member into the shells adjacent one of their iatsides so as, according to the direction of the laps of the shells, to be stopped or not to be stopped by a part of the lap which is unsymmetrical with respect to the middle plane of the shell that is parallel to the hat sides thereof, a rotatable hollow member to receive one shell at a time and rotate half a revolution to turn the shell contained in it in order to bring it to correct position, means to successively move the shells to and from said hollow member, and means controlled by the feeling member, due to its movement in dependence of the position of the shells, for rotating said hollow member.

7. In a device for arranging matchbox shells which are provided with an inner lap at that side where the material of the shell is jointed and which are supplied to said device in such a way that some shells will have their laps directed to one side and the and means controlled by' other shellsV to the opposite' side, the'combination of a. feeling member, means for yield-r ingly introducing said feeling member into their flat sides so as to` be stoppedor not to be stopped according to the direction of the laps of the shells by a part of the lap which is unsymmetrical with respect to the middle plane of they may prevent the movement of said swinging lever.

In testimony whereof I have signed my the shell that is parallel to the flat sides thereof, a rotatable hollow member to receive one shell at a time, means to successively move the shells to and from said hollow member, means to rotate said hollow member half a revolution at atime, and means controlled by the feeling member, due to its movement in dependence of the position of the shells, to prevent said hollow member from rotation.

8. In a device for arranging match boX shells which are provided with an inner lap at that side where the material of the shell u is jointed and which are supplied to said device in such a way that some shells will have their laps directed to'one side and the other shells to the opposite side, the combination of a feeling member, means to yieldingly introduce said feeling member into the shells adjacent one of their flat sides and so as to be stopped or not to be stopped according to the direction of the laps of the shells by a part of the lap which is unsymmetrical with respect to the middle plane of the shell that is parallel to the flat sides thereof, a rotatable hollow member to receive one shell at a time, means to successively move the shells to and from said hollow member, a toothed wheel to rotate said hollow member in one direction, a spring operated toothed segment engaged by said toothed wheel, and a stop pin controlled by the feeling member to project into the path of said toothed segment.

9. In a device for arranging match box shells which are provided with an inner lap at that side where the material of the shell is jointed and which are supplied to said device in such a way that some shells will have their laps directed to one side and the other shells to the opposite side, the combination of a feeling member, means to yieldingly introduce said feeling member into the shells adjacent onek of their flat sides so as to be stopped or not to be stopped according to the direction of the laps of the shells by a part of the lap which is unsymmetrical with respect to the middle plane of the shell that is parallel to the fiat sides thereof, a rotatable hollow member to receive one shell at a time and rotate half a revolution to turn the shell contained in it in order to bring it to correct position, means to successively move the shells to and from said hollow member, means to effect the rotation of said hollow member, comprising a swinging lever and a toothed wheel gear operated by said swinging lever, and means to control the operation of said swinging lever, said last-mentioned means comprising a disk rotatable step by step and a plurality of stop pins provided in said disk which are adapted to be moved by the combined operation of the feeling member and the disk to a position in which llame.

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